George Will on Reagan and speaking -- just like Obama?

The following quotes (from George Wills new book) are well stated. He is praising the speaking strengths of a conservative (Ronald Reagan), strengths that a nation sorely needs. I can't help but think about Barrack Obama when I read these statements. Everyone agrees that Obama has a gift for uplifting and motivating the masses through his speeches. People tend to pile on and criticize this gift....the same gift that Ronald Reagan had, and which he used to inspire our nation. Our country needs some inspirational leadership. Great oratorical skills should not be criticized...we need them more than ever. Obama has the same speaking gift as Reagan, albeit in a different style. I hope he has a chance to use his gifts to lead our country. We need some inspirational leadership....George W. Bush is the anti-inspirational leader....we need something much new and different.

• "Good actors, including political actors' do not deal in unrealities. Rather they create realities that matter-perceptions, aspirations, allegiances. Reagan in his presidential role made vivid the values' particularly hopefulness and friendliness, that give cohesion and dynamism to a continental nation. A democratic leader's voice should linger in his nation's memory, an echo of his exhortations. Reagan's mellifluous rhetoric lingers like a melody that evokes fond memories."

• "Because of demagogues, rhetoric has a tainted reputation in our time. However, Reagan understood that rhetoric is central to democratic governance. It can fuse passion and persuasion, moving free people to freely choose what is noble. He understood the axiom that people, especially Americans, with Founders' creed and vast reservoirs of decency more often need to be reminded than informed."